Ongoing…

Only half of the more than 2,000 students who attended Middlesex Borough schools during 2024-25 were reregistered for the coming year by the district’s requested June 25 deadline.

Of those pupils who reregistered, only one was found to not qualify for public education here due to lack of borough residency, according to school officials.

Those figures were revealed during the Wednesday, July 16 Board of Education meeting. A pair of brief reregistration discussions occurred. 

The first, when board member Landette Jeffrey asked School Superintendent Dr. Roberta Freeman about the reregistration’s progress. The second took place during public comments, spurred by questions from Greene Avenue resident Laura Thomasey.

The Middlesex Borough school district had 2,028 full-time students as of last Oct. 15, according to the board’s 2025-26 budget. Families of those who intended to return to district classrooms next September were asked to submit documents proving borough residency by the June deadline. Reregistration was conducted through the district’s Genesis online communications portal.

The reregistration process is ongoing, Freeman said, with the goal to have more definitive numbers in August. “The reregistration process continues on,” she said.

The intent, according to Freeman, was for families to submit records by the June 25 date. The district is taking July to verify them and contact those it has not heard from.

Officials are “reaching out” via letter to those families who have not reregistered, Freeman said. The district also needs to address those who have “submitted insufficient documents,” she added.

“There are no final numbers right now,” Freeman noted.

Thomasey later asked how many past year students had reregistered. Freeman responded that by June 25, half had done so. Thomasey then inquired what would happen if the other half continues to be unheard from.

Freeman and Board President Danielle Parenti said families are required to reregister their school-age children for the coming year and “have to” do so.

So far, only one student who has attempted to reregister failed to prove residency, Freeman said.

Left unsaid by Freeman and other officials at the meeting was how the district is preparing for the 2025-26 school year with the current uncertainty over the final reregistration total. The board’s budget for the coming academic year estimated that total full-time enrollment will be 2,041 as of Oct. 15, 2025.

That only one student had so far failed to prove Middlesex Borough residency is likely a surprisingly low number to some community members. The district conducted a reregistration roughly 15 years ago. Persons involved with that effort have said that 69 non-resident students were found then to be attending Middlesex schools.

In early 2024, Freeman commented publicly that the district was running out of classroom space, which appeared to spur calls in the community for another reregistration. Like 15 years ago, some local residents suspect there are students attending Middlesex Borough schools who are not legally residents of the municipality.

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